So how fares the meteorite market in these recessionary times? The supply is very low and the demand has really been going up in the last few years, says Farmer. Prices have quadrupled on certain items just in the last year. He is currently working on a $1.5 million sale of a 120-pound meteorite. He once negotiated in a similar price range with the Russians for a whopper weighing 3.5 tons. Having been burned investing in less rock-solid opportunities, Farmer says he's learned to keep his money in his inventory.
The phonograph, invented in 1877 by Thomas Edison, sent music on the sharpest tangent in its history. Mark Coleman writes about how the phonograph changed the music listening experience in his book, Playback: from the Victrola to MP3, 100 Years of Music, Machines, and Money.
Format advantages. At the time the LP was introduced, nearly all phonograph records for home use were made of an abrasive (and therefore noisy) shellac compound, employed a much larger groove, and played at approximately 78 revolutions per minute (rpm), limiting the playing time of a 12-inch diameter record to less than five minutes per side.